Typical commercially available toothbrushes have elongated handles with monofilament bristles mounted on a flattened laterally-facing face of a flattened toothbrush head at the distal end of the handle. The thin flexible typically nylon bristles are smooth monofilaments of which the ends of the bristles are cut-off at right angles to form the flat brush area. Cleansing of a person's teeth is accomplished by action of the sides and ends of the nylon bristles which move over the teeth. The person holding the handle of the toothbrush manipulates the angle and direction of the brush so as to access most of the tooth surface. A dentifrice, such as toothpaste is used for its foaming action so that loosened food particles can be more readily removed.
The above-described conventional toothbrush and the above-described mechanism thereof in attempted tooth cleaning, does not effectively remove stains and/or plaque. The bristles are ineffective in removing stains and/or semi-hardened plaque. With the present technology typically described above, a person must await a scheduled visit to the dentist or dental hygienist in order to have the plaque and stains removed by the use of metal scraping tools and/or electric cleaning device(s) in combination with typically a gritty paste.
The sole device (instrument) for attempted cleaning of the teeth of a dog, is the standard or conventional toothbrush, sometimes used in combination with special enzymatic dentifrice. As in cleaning human teeth with a toothbrush, this above-described approach with dogs, fails to remove established plaque and/or tartar from the dog's teeth, and prolonged and/or over zealous attempts to get at and attempts to remove the plaque and/or tartar from the dog's teeth, can cause pain and/or eventual exhaustion of patience of the dog or other pet, and/or irritability of the pet, perhaps associated with snapping and/or biting. Present approaches at cleaning a pet's teeth moreover is extremely slow and tedious and fails to do an effective or satisfactory job in removal of yellow stains that are so common on a dog's teeth, for example. Use of metal dental instruments in attempts to clean (for example) a dog's teeth, requires great care to avoid hurting or causing pain or injury to the tender tissue, or to cutting or tearing such tissue, even with the exercise of great care and patience. Moreover, the task is made more difficult normally arising from long or protracted periods between attempts to clean the teeth of a pet, allowing the teeth of the dog or cat, (for example) to accumulate yellow and brownish plaque and tartar, and for it to be hardened to a greater degree than typically on human teeth that receive a higher degree and more frequent care.